Sara's Game by Ernie Lindsey Page A

answered with a perturbed, “Where the hell have you been?”
    “LightPulse.  Asking around.  I think we may have something.”
    “Good.  I didn’t come up with much here.  Some of the witnesses said they saw a naked woman.  Said she threw on some clothes and hightailed it down the hill.”
    “On foot?”
    “Like she was in a big damn hurry to get somewhere.  But hell, who wouldn’t be if they’d been standing around naked in front of a hundred strangers?”
    “Right.  Sara left the school in a hybrid Sienna.  Beige, I think.  Any sign of it?”
    “Damn, cowboy, you might’ve mentioned that.  Had a lady tell me she recognized the naked woman from the parking lot.  Light brown minivan, she said, but it ain’t there now.  Not where she said it was.”
    "If she left on foot and didn’t come back to get it, where’d it go?”
    “Better yet, who took it?”
    “Get somebody on it, then meet me at 1848 Graystone.  Davis has somebody on the way, but I think you and I need to go have a look.”
    “Residential?  You got a possible?”
    “Heavy on the possible, but no motive yet.”
    “Anything to do with the husband?”
    No, Barker.  Jesus, would you give it up?
    “Negative.  Teddy Rutherford, son of the LightPulse CEO.  See you in fifteen.  I’ll explain later.”
    ***
    By the time DJ got to Teddy Rutherford’s home near Portland Heights, Barker was already waiting on him, leaning on the side of his car, admiring the house from a distance.  DJ parked behind him. 
    Barker whistled as he walked up.  “What do you think?  Million five?  How do people afford this shit?”
    “Spending his daddy’s dollars certainly doesn’t hurt.”  DJ looked up to the house, taking in the spectacle.  His shoebox-sized home could easily fit inside three times.  Modern design with lots of straight lines and boxy edges.  Gray exterior with white trim.  A cobblestone walkway led up to a sky blue door.  Lush, vibrant landscaping made it look like the house was hiding within a jungle rather than being a place where a person might lay his head down at night.  A huge, three-paneled picture window took up a good portion of the left side of the facing wall, and on the opposite side of the front door, a smattering of rectangular windows formed a wavelike pattern. 
    Barker said, “I get dizzy looking at it.  Makes me think of those flashing cartoons that give kids seizures.  Would you live in something like this?”
    “If I had your salary, I might.”
    “My salary couldn’t rent a room in that thing, cowboy.”  He angled sideways to face DJ.  “What’s the deal here?  Uniforms left about five minutes ago.  Nobody home.”
    “Damn.  It’s never easy, is it?”
    “You’ll learn one of these days.”
    “And I’m sure you’ll take credit for it when I do.” 
    DJ recounted the details of his LightPulse visit.  The shitty meeting with Jim Rutherford.  The connection to Teddy and the note.  The golf tournament.  The lack of golf tournaments.  The unaccounted for assistant and her coincidental departure.  The teasing that Teddy Rutherford may or may not have taken offense to.  “The lead is there,” he said, “but I don’t feel like it’s enough for motive.”
    Barker said, “What we feel and what we can reason—”
    “‘ Do not sleep in the same bed together. ’  I know, Barker.  I know.”
    “I wish you’d stop interrupting me.”
    “I don’t need to.  Your ramblings are ground into my brain.”
    “One of these days I might surprise you with something you’ve never heard before.”
    “When you do, I’ll be all ears.”
    Barker tapped a cigarette out of his soft pack.  Lit it with a one-handed click and strike of his Zippo, then took a long drag, slowly exhaling, letting the billowing smoke get lost in the breeze.  “What now, cowboy?  We’ve got a missing woman, her missing children, a missing husband, a missing suspect, a missing assistant.”
    “Don’t